Grizzly H2930 carving set

[Marc Myers]

I'm pretty familiar with Grizzly power tools, however carving is something new to me. I'm starting to get into it more and more and would like to invest in some good quality carving tools. Phiel tools at Woodcraft are excellent, but are way out of my price range for starting out carving. Has anyone bought or used Grizzly's H2930 premium carving tools? For the price and brand it doesn't seem too bad a deal for a 12 piece set. There's a set at Hartville Tool as well by MGH that is 12 pieces and goes for about $350. A significant price difference I'm well aware of. Any suggestions for a 10+ year veteran of woodworking, woodturning, but still just starting to learn woodcarver. What do you recommend I look at for a good quality set of tools at a reasonable price?

[robert raess]

I balked at the price of the Pfeil as well.My woodturning instructor Brenda Behrens, a well known turner/carver taught me carving as well. She used Pfeil almost exclusively.She had a mentor in Japan, and acquired some tools with Japan steel..scary sharp, and no name brand..possibly custom made.98% of her tools are Pfeils+[Japan+Warren= 2%].I balked for the summer until I could afford or find a deal on the Pfeils.In the mean time she lent me some Pfeils and the Japan tools, and got myself hooked on the Pfeils.There are intermediate sizes that Pfeil makes which i bought and saved some that way.I also bought some Warren, made here in the US.Pretty good steel. Harder to get razor sharp, and dulls quicker, but can't beat the price.I buy the knives sans handle and turn my own handle on the lathe.Treat yourself to one Pfeil,it is so worth it..Enjoy!! Rob

[Mike Hicks]

I've never bought anything from these folks but have heard many good things about them. I hear he sharpens them before he send them to you and will even resharpen if you send them back to him. Might be worth a look.

[Mike Davis NC]

I bought the Grizzly set. It is ok steel, the handles are cheap wood but serviceable, you will have to reshape and sharpen every one of them. After you get them working they will have to be sharpened often. The sharpening experience will help you later when you have better tools. Learn to sharpen the cheap stuff and you will be more confident with the better ones.

They are an ok set if you don't do much carving or if you are on an extremely tight budget. You can always get better tools later. Get the cheap set now to get started and then buy one good Pfeil every month or even one every year until you have all you need. The cheap set will let you see which better ones you need first. I totally understand working on a budget, some people think if you can't get the best then you have no business buying tools. I have always done what ever I had to do in order to get things done.

Sometimes that means buying a cheap tool and sometimes that means making a tool from something else.

When I started turning I couldn't afford a set of turning chisels so I reground screwdrivers that i bought at yard sales for $1.00 or 50¢ until I found an old Craftsman set. As I learned and improved and could afford better i got Sorbys.

[Marc Myers]

I certainly understand what you're saying Mike. I did exactly that when I started turning a few years back. I had a small mini lathe, ebay chisels and such. I didnt spend a fortune because I wasn't sure I'd get the use out of it to justify the price and the same sharpening issue you mentioned. I've upgraded to a full size lathe and Robert Sorby tools since then as I find I really enjoy turning and it opens up more possibilities to incorporate things between turning and flatstock work. That's where I'm at with carving right now. I'd like to learn to carve and do things like ball/claw feet on a coffee table or stool. Might even try my hand at carving letters so I can put initials on a jewelery box or something like that. I'm really lookig for a 'mid range' set of 10 or 12 tools to get me started. If it works out, I will upgrade to better tools once I see which ones I need or use most often. I just have not able to find a $175 set. They are either $50 cheepies or Phiel, Hartville Tool, Crown etc $3-4-500 sets. I can't even find a deal on ebay or craigslist. I was hoping someone with more carving experience could point me in the right direction toward a decent brand at a decent price. I'll continue my search, it's out there somewhere!

[Susan Mattix]

Over the last 18 years, I have bought various brands of gouges and still have most of them. By far, without exception, the best tools I own are the Pfeils. I understand that they are pricey. I have been fortunate enough to buy a few used when someone in our club, passed on and their spouse/children put the tools up for sale. But if I had to do it all over again, I would only buy Pfeil brand. They will never let you down. Start with 3 or 4 basic gouges like a good #5 and a nice V tool, a deep U of some kind.... You can accumulate them slowly. You will never regret buying one of these. Christmas, birthdays, anniversary gifts....tell your loved ones what you want. You will never find a better tool at any price.

[randall rosenthal]

i use pfeil , mostly fish tail gouges. while i'm working i sharpen every 10 minutes....for 10 seconds.

[Mike Pounders]

Susan and the others are speaking from experience. I have built up my roll of Pfeil tools one or two at at a time and will not be buying other brands any more. The Flexcut tools are not bad, and I still use mine some. You can get a variety of interchangeable blades from them to fit their handles or make your own handles, but most "sets" will have too many tools that you will never use, no matter how cheap they are. Those unused tools add up...enough to purchase several good gouges. A fifty piece set of cheap, dull tools will discourage you from carving. One razor-sharp tool that effortlessly performs it's job will help you become a better carver. You learn how to adapt, how to innovate with what you have, and then you decide that you need the same thing, only in a smaller size, or that a #7 would really work better for what you have discovered you like to carve. I would rather have three Pfeils than twelve others.

[Chuck George]

I've never tried the Grizzlys, but have tried many other brands and always come back to the Pfeils.

Chuck

[Marc Myers]

Well, it seems as if the general vote is that Pfeil is the way to go. I've been around woodworking long enough to that when enough people pass a vote on the same thing, there's a pretty good reason for it. So Pfeil it is. Mike, you make a good point about sets. I've seen the same thing with turning sets that I have bought, a few I use reguarly and others that are still unused even after several years. I have looked at the Pfeil sets of 8 at Woodcraft and there are two. 5 are the same tool in each set but 3 are different from one set to another. If you guys had to pick 5 tools to start carving with, which 5 would you pick? I know that what you are carving defines the tools you need, but what tools do you find yourselves reaching for more often than not as a good general 'got to have it' tool? Assuming I didn't buy a set and could get any gouge, V, spoon, etc in any size, what would anyone recommend I start out with ?

[Doug Duffield]

Well, it seems as if the general vote is that Pfeil is the way to go. I've been around woodworking long enough to that when enough people pass a vote on the same thing, there's a pretty good reason for it. So Pfeil it is. Mike, you make a good point about sets. I've seen the same thing with turning sets that I have bought, a few I use reguarly and others that are still unused even after several years. I have looked at the Pfeil sets of 8 at Woodcraft and there are two. 5 are the same tool in each set but 3 are different from one set to another. If you guys had to pick 5 tools to start carving with, which 5 would you pick? I know that what you are carving defines the tools you need, but what tools do you find yourselves reaching for more often than not as a good general 'got to have it' tool? Assuming I didn't buy a set and could get any gouge, V, spoon, etc in any size, what would anyone recommend I start out with ?
Marc,

I'm just an amateur, but I gleaned a lot of information from Doris Fiebig and Mark Yundt's blog site. There is a photo/teaching article called "Greenman" (located under "Mark") on their blog where Mark carves a greenman using just 6 chisels and a knife. He explains the use of each chisel as he progresses through the tutorial. Mark also gives a lot of good tips along the way. Be sure and check it out. Both Doris and Mark describe how a chisel can do more than we believe. It's true, these Pfeil tools are capable of so much more than their shape may present. For instance, using multiple passes you can roll the chisel as you press through the wood, increasing the cut width and widening the cut.

The chisels that I use most are a 2/5, 2/12, 5/12, 11/4, and a 12/4. With these 5 chisels, I can carve many forms, it may take me a while to clear out an area because the width of these are not all that great as compared to wider chisels, but I'm enjoying working with the wood and finding the shapes in the carving. It's nice to go slow, fewer non-correctable mistakes, less pressure and feeling the 'lost in time' longer. These tools carve upside down as easily as right side up. Convex shapes are easy with Pfeils. I'm not recommending these for you to start with, but stating that a few basic chisels can produce an extreme range of shapes from simple to complex. You will probably be able to make your own decision after reading the above mentioned blog.

[Susan Mattix]

Doug, Marc,
Have you ever thought about using a large, deep U gouge, say a number 9 or higher, to remove a lot of wood? In the earliest roughing out stages, this thing will take off a lot of wood. It does make the wood look "lumpy" but then you take something like a number 5 and remove all the ridges/lumps left behind by the deep U. My old carving teacher showed me that technique. Anyhow, those are 2 of the gouges I consider a must have. A third is a nice "narrow profile" V tool..... not a wide profile. For outlining an area before wasting away the wood around it, a good V is essential. For finish gouging, I use a number 4 sweep....but that's probably a matter of personal preference. The numbers I have indicated is the sweep of the tool or the amount of curve in the blade.... the actual size of these tools is up to you. You can carve small things with large tools... it's pretty hard to carve large things with small tools....